As the core link of the construction and infrastructure industry chain, the sand making and washing industry has shown rapid development in recent years under the joint drive of environmental protection policy, technological innovation and market demand.The global sand making and washing machine market size was about $4.5 billion in 2022, and is expected to reach $6 billion in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.8%. China occupies 35%-40% of the global market share, the domestic market size of 18.5 billion yuan in 2023, 2025 is expected to exceed 21 billion yuan.
However, the quality of sand and gravel on the market varies – poor grain shape, high mud content, unreasonable grading and other problems seriously restrict the quality of the project. As an equipment manufacturer specialising in crushing and screening technology for 30+ years, we focus on building efficient and reliable sand making and washing equipment to meet the demand for high-quality sand in the downstream of commercial mixing stations and building construction.
Equipment Needed for Sand Making And Washing
The first question, what equipment is needed for sand production line? The equipment configuration of sand production line needs to be flexibly adjusted according to the characteristics of raw materials, capacity demand and finished product requirements. A complete sand production line usually consists of four categories: crushing equipment, sand making equipment, sand washing equipment and screening equipment, which together guarantee the efficient operation of the production line and the quality of the finished products.
Crushing Equipment
Crushing equipment is the starting point of sand production line, responsible for crushing large raw materials (such as granite, limestone, construction waste) to the size that can be processed by sand making machine (usually ≤5mm). According to the hardness of raw materials and capacity requirements can be flexibly selected “coarse crushing + medium crushing + fine crushing” combination.
Coarse Crushing – jaw crusher
- Role: Preliminary crushing of large raw materials (particle size ≤1200mm) to medium size (≤350mm), providing stable feed for subsequent medium and fine crushing.
- Features: large feed opening, high crushing ratio, strong impact resistance, is the first choice for coarse crushing of granite, basalt and other hard rocks, suitable for high hardness materials.
Medium Crushing – Cone Crusher
- Function: To further crush the roughly crushed materials (≤350mm) to medium and fine size (≤100mm), and improve the crushing efficiency.
- Characteristics: Andamine cone crusher adopts the principle of laminated crushing, which is more wear-resistant and has a low failure rate when dealing with high hardness materials, and is suitable for large-scale production lines.
Fine Crushing – Impact Crusher
- Function: Crush the materials after medium crushing (≤100mm) to ≤5mm, both fine crushing and shaping function.
- Characteristics: simple structure, easy maintenance, suitable for limestone, shale and other hard materials in the fine crushing. And Andamine 3 in 1 mobile impact crusher is especially suitable for construction waste crushing.
Sand Making Equipment
The sand making machine is responsible for further shaping the finely crushed material to reduce the needle flake particles, which directly affects the market value of the finished sand, because the sand for commercial mixing has very high requirements on the grain size.
Function:
Through the principle of “stone hitting stone” or “stone hitting iron”, the material will be finely crushed to ≤5mm, and at the same time complete the shaping.
Characteristics:
The finished product has rounded grain shape and reasonable grading, which is suitable for the fine crushing of high hardness materials (granite, basalt), and it is the core of shaping in sand production line.
Screening Equipment
Although vibrating screen and other screening equipment are not directly involved in crushing, sand making and sand washing, they are the guarantee for continuous operation of the production line. According to the requirements of the finished product to select the screen aperture, can be crushed / sand materials according to the particle size classification (such as 0-5mm, 5-10mm).
Sand Washing Equipment
Sand washing machine is used to remove the soil, stone powder and impurities on the surface of sand and gravel, which is the key link to improve the quality of mechanism sand (e.g. mud content, cleanliness), and the type should be selected according to the humidity of raw materials and the requirements of finished products.
Bucket wheel sand washing machine
- Applicable raw materials: medium and fine sand (0-3mm), materials with mud content <5% (such as limestone sand).
- Core advantages: high processing efficiency, low water consumption, simple structure, easy maintenance, is the “standard” of commercial sand washing.
Screw sand washing machine
- Applicable raw materials: coarse sand (1-5mm), wet materials with high mud content (such as clayey sand and gravel).
- Core advantage: through the spiral blade tumbling material, in addition to the strong ability, suitable for the need for deep cleaning scene (such as construction sand).
So how do these equipments cooperate with each other for high quality sand and gravel production? Here is the production process for you.
4 Core Steps of Sand Making and Washing Process
Sand production lines follow a systematic process. The following is a clear and structured breakdown of the process steps:
- Raw material pre-processing: large stone materials are roughly crushed by jaw crusher, and then medium crushed by cone crusher/impact crusher to ensure that the size of raw materials entering the sand making machine is ≤50mm.
- Sand making and shaping: the crushed material enters the vertical shaft impact sand making machine, and is crushed by the high-speed rotating impeller, forming 0-5mm mechanism sand.
- Screening and grading: the mixed material after sand making is screened by vibrating screen, the qualified sand enters into the sand washing process, and the material with super granularity returns to the sand making machine for re-crushing (closed-circuit recycling).
- Sand washing and dewatering: the screened sand enters the wheel bucket sand washer to clean and remove the soil and stone powder.
The whole process forms a closed loop, and the materials are crushed and screened repeatedly until the required particle size and quality requirements are met. The rock crushing plant runs continuously until it produces the required sand and gravel output. Through this structured sand and gravel processing line, the sand making machine efficiently crushes, screens, cleans and refines the raw material, ultimately producing a high quality sand and gravel product. So let’s take a look at the sand and gravel production programme Andamine has designed for our customers.
Andamine Sand Making Plant in Operation
200t/h Granite Sand Making Project – High Standard Construction Sand
Client’s Requirement:
200t/h high quality mechanism sand for commercial concrete mixing plant with excellent grain shape.
Solution:
Jaw crusher (coarse crushing) + Cone crusher (medium crushing) + Vertical shaft impact sand making machine (sand making) + Bucket wheel sand washing machine (sand washing)
Operation Effect:
- Cubic content of finished product ≥90%, needle and flake ≤8%.
- Fine sand recovery rate ≥92%, reducing the waste of resources by more than 500,000 yuan per year.
- The production line runs stably, and the comprehensive energy consumption is reduced by 15%.
150t/h River Pebbles Sand Making Project – Mobile Production Line
Client’s Requirement:
A sand and gravel company in Malaysia has abundant river pebbles resources, but the mining area is scattered and needs to be transferred frequently.
Solution:
Jaw crusher (coarse crushing) + VSI vertical shaft sand making machine (sand making) + vibrating screen
Operation Effect:
- The fineness of the finished sand is 2.8, which is in line with the standard of sand for ready-mixed mortar.
- The production line can be crawler walking without transporting, adapting to various scenarios such as mines, rivers, demolition sites, and so on.
- Customers can centrally control the mobile crusher plant through PLC to monitor the output, energy consumption and equipment status in real time.
120t/h Construction Waste Recycling Sand Making Project – Increase Resource Utilisation Rate
Client’s Requirement:
Municipal construction waste treatment centre, wishing to convert demolition waste (concrete blocks, bricks and tiles) into recycled aggregate for road bedding.
Challenge:
Complex raw material composition (containing impurities such as steel, wood, etc.), traditional equipment is prone to clogging.
Solution:
The Andamine 3-in-1 mobile impact crusher, equipped with a vibrating screen and iron remover, removes rebar and debris. We also installed a dust cover for the customer to comply with environmental standards.
Operation Effect:
- The conversion rate of construction waste is ≥85%, and the proportion of recycled sand is 60%.
- The separation efficiency of impurities is >95%, and the purity of finished products is high.
- Recycled sand is used in water stabilisation layer of municipal roads, and the compressive strength is up to standard.
Whether you are faced with river pebbles, granite or construction waste sand making needs, Andamine can provide customised solutions. Contact us now!
Wide Application of Mechanism Sand
The above cases show that mechanism sand has a variety of uses. In recent years, with the advantages of “controllable particle size, stable supply and low cost”, mechanism sand has gradually become a substitute for natural sand, which can be widely used in the following fields:
Construction and concrete
- Commercial concrete: Mechanism sand has adjustable fineness modulus, good compatibility with cement, and can improve concrete strength (10%-15% higher than that of natural sand);
- Ready-mixed mortar: Mechanism sand has low mud content (≤2%), which can avoid mortar delamination and cracking, and is the preferred aggregate for high-end mortar.
Water resources and traffic engineering
- Dam filling: through sieving control, the grading of mechanism sand is uniform, which can improve the denseness of the dam and reduce the risk of seepage;
- Asphalt concrete: mechanism sand has clear edges and strong bonding with asphalt, which can extend the service life of the road (20% increase in durability compared with natural sand pavement).
Industrial and environmental fields
- Cement Admixture: Stone powder (below 0.075mm) recovered from sand washing can be used as cement mixing material, reducing cement production cost;
- Solid Waste Resourcing: sand production from construction waste can turn waste into treasure and reduce the ecological damage caused by mining.
How to Choose the Right Sand Making Machine
Choosing the right sand making machine is crucial to the efficiency and quality of the sand production line. Here are some key factors and steps that can help you make an informed choice:
Material Characteristics:
Humidity: Materials with high humidity may require a specially designed sand making machine to avoid clogging.
Production requirements:
Finished product quality: choose the right equipment according to the grain size and quality standard of the required finished sand.
Equipment type:
Impact sand making machine: suitable for medium hardness materials, suitable for producing high quality sand.
Vertical Shaft Impact Crusher: suitable for high hardness materials with good wear resistance.
Fine Crusher: for producing fine sand, suitable for handling softer materials.
Energy consumption and environmental protection:
Operation & Maintenance:
Brand and after-sales service:
Site visit and test:
By considering these factors comprehensively, you can choose the sand making machine that best suits your production needs, ensuring the efficient operation of the production line and the output of high-quality products.
FAQs – Solving Common Problems and Reducing Your Expenses
There may be some problems in the sand making and washing production process, which affect the normal production operation. Below I will share two common problems and solutions for you:
Question 1: The hammer head of sand making machine wears out too fast, change it once in half a year?
Reason
- the raw material hardness is over the standard or the feed size is not even.
Solution
- Andamine crushing plant add “metal detector + iron remover”, can avoid metal impurities into the sand making machine.
- Adjust the frequency of feeder to ensure the feed size ≤ 50mm;
- Choose high chrome alloy hammer head, the life span can be extended to more than 1 year.
Question 2: What should I do if the mud content still exceeds the standard after sand washing?
Reason
- It may be that the processing capacity of sand washing machine is insufficient (e.g. 300 tonnes per hour line with 100 tonnes per hour sand washing machine), or the process is missing (not configured with fine sand recovery machine).
Solution
- upgraded to “bucket + screw” two-stage sand washing (first bucket to remove large impurities, then screw to remove fine powder);
- increase the fine sand recycling machine, the stone powder below 0.075mm will be re-mixed into the finished sand, which not only improves the quality but also increases the revenue.
If you are planning a sand making and washing production line, or are not satisfied with the quality of the existing production line, welcome to contact our team of engineers, we provide “capacity planning + equipment selection + installation and training” one-stop solution, so that every ton of sand and gravel are value for money!